


If we're going to burn, lets do it together

by Sabrieltrash11



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Babysitting, Children, Death, Depression, F/M, Family, Loneliness, M/M, Multi, Sad Leo Valdez, Sibling Bonding, Siblings, Stress, War, parenting, protective frank zhang, protective hazel levesque, protective leo valdez
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 15:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11107431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sabrieltrash11/pseuds/Sabrieltrash11
Summary: Leo is lonely and upset. Its not to the point where it interrupts his work, but it's enough for people to notice. All Leo wants is someone to really notice him, and some kids he takes under his wing help him with that. Then he meets Hazel, a girl who see's not just a hero with no flaws, like Leo's little army of children, but see's everything that makes Leo, well, Leo, and she loves it all. Leo's reunited with Frank, his childhood best friend he thought he had lost forever, who happens to be dating Hazel, which leaves him feeling once again as if a rug was just pulled out from under him. He decides to push them away before he screws up everything. Only, Hazel and Frank keep showing up, and Leo doesn't know what to think anymore.





	If we're going to burn, lets do it together

**Author's Note:**

> I DON'T KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING  
> Also Leo is pretty down right now, definitely going towards depressed, so he isn't as cheery as he'll be as I get closer to canon.

 

When Leo learned Jason hadn’t really been his best friend for the past couple months, he felt shattered.

He had finally started feeling accepted by Jason and Piper, finally had started to feel at home with them. Even when they became a couple, they had stayed relatively close.

Finding out it was all a lie? That was one of the worst tricks anyone could play.

But he pretended it was okay. He smiled and told everyone he was fine, placed a smile on his face, made a few jokes, and everyone was left in the dark about how he felt. He didn’t need to pretend for the camp or his siblings for long thank the gods. He was lucky, he got to go fight some cyclopes, ride his cool dragon, get turned to gold, and save the queen of the gods! Yay!

Then he had came back and was made head councillor of his cabin. Alright, cool. Then he found out Annabeth, the scary blonde’s, boyfriend Percy Jackson was in the Roman camp and needed to be retrieved ASAP! Okay, sweet. More distractions for him! Now he gets to make an awesome war ship to take to the Roman camp to find the rest of the seven to save the world! How awesome is that? Leo should be exhilarated!

But in truth, Leo just felt drained.

Emotionally and physically.

Building his ship took up all his time, leaving him more often then not working alone well into the night. His siblings would help during the day, listening to his every order and speeding up the process, but at night they would go for dinner and the campfire with their friends, once again leaving him alone.

He missed Jason.

Jason spent most of his time training with Piper, getting ready for the months ahead. The two were a couple again, making the time they visited Leo short and far in between. He tried not to let it bug him, but it hurt. He hopped that his hard work would pay off and when everything was done, he would be reworded with six awesome friends and maybe even a girlfriend. But he tried not to get his hopes up, why would fate suddenly take pity on him?

He missed Frank.

Frank was this boy he had met in one of his foster homes when he was about 12. Just the thought of his name sent tiny needles soring into his heart. Gods he missed Frank so much sometimes it almost wiped him off his feet. But Frank was gone now, thanks to Leo. He messed everything up, including the best friendship Leo had ever had. But at least he had some good memories of their time together, their first meeting being one of them.

_Leo had been found and captured on the Canadian border after running away from his seventh foster home. The police had had to sedate him because he was struggling so much he could remember the pain. The judge had not been pleased with him, and had decided he needed to learn some manners, making them decide to take him to a foster home in Vancouver instead of in the states. It had sucked there, Leo had instantly hated it. He had been all set to run again when a boy found him sitting in the front lawn._

_It was a sunny day, blue skies only freckled with clouds here and there. It was July, so it was hot, but heat didn’t bother Leo._

_He had been angrily ripping up handfuls of grass and throwing it into the streets. He hadn’t noticed the boy until he was right in front of him._

_“Hello”, the boy said, standing over him, “did the lawn personally offend you or something?”. He was big and bulky, but he had a baby face that reminded Leo of a puppy. He wore dirty jeans and a purple T-shirt, with a bow and quiver of arrows strapped to his back. He looked like some kind of baby cupid._

_“Its alive, so it must die” Leo grumbled._

_The boy had frowned and sat on the grass beside him. After several minutes of thick silence, the boy had said, “I’m Frank. Frank Zhang”._

_Leo had turned to look at him with a glare, but after seeing the sincere look in his eyes, Leo had deflated._

_“Leo Valdez” he had replied, making Frank smile._

Leo shook his head to clear it, no sense focussing on the past. Right at that moment, Rodger, the newest member of the Hephaestus cabin at age 10, came into bunker 9 with a plate of sandwiches. The boy looked a lot like Leo, with crazy windswept brown hair and playful brown eyes. He wasn’t as skinny as Leo though, bulkier, like the other Hephaestus kids. He also was more serious then Leo, but could be fun if pushed enough. He was as dirty as all the Hephaestus kids, with a smear of grease on his cheek. Leo couldn’t tell what colour his shirt was it was hidden under so much grime, but he had on ripped jeans and work boots.

“Leo, I brought you lunch. You skipped breakfast this morning and dinner last night.”

Leo sighed and pushed himself out from under a piece of siding he had been working on, sitting up to look at Rodger. “Thanks buddy, set them over there.”

Rodger frowned, “you don’t look so good Leo. You’re all pale and your eyes are droopy”

Leo rubbed his eyes self consciously. She hadn’t slept for a few nights, so what?

“I’m fine Rod. Just busy”

Rodger didn’t look convinced, but he set the sandwiches down where Leo had pointed and sat down beside Leo. “What are you doing?” he asked, looking curiously at the piece of siding.

“Well I’m glad you asked! This here,” he pointed to a part of the wood that looked a bit out of place, “makes this whole piece of siding rotate inwards. When it’s attached to other walls, it will become a hidden compartment that can be used to store anything we need hidden incase we get attacked and our ship is gone through.”

Rodger nodded, impressed. “That’s really cool. This ship is going to be awesome.”

Leo smiled, pleased.

“But… if its captain dies because he worked himself to the ground and forgot to eat… it will be kind of useless.” He gave Leo a knowing look.

Leo crossed his arms like a child, “I am not working myself to the ground! I ate both breakfast and lunch yesterday thank you very much, plus I’ve only been awake a max of three days-”

“Five”

Leo blinked, thrown off guard, “excuse me?”

“Five days, not three. You haven’t slept in five days”

Leo felt dizzy. No way he had been in here that long. His siblings had been bringing him food so he hadn’t actually gone to eat in the dinning pavilion, but he felt he should still know if he had been in here for five days!

“Easy!” Rodger yelped as Leo started to fall over. Good thing he was already on the ground.

“I think it’s time for you to take a couple days break. Let us do some work, you need to rest”

Leo gave a whine in protest, but Rodger just lay him on the ground and hushed him.

“Don’t worry Leo. We all know how you want this ship to look. Three days off, nothing but rest. I’ll take care of everything ok? Just sleep now.”

Leo tried to fight it, but his eyes closed agenised his will. He must have been so sleep deprived he hadn’t even noticed until his brain shut off. He felt like he was drowning as sleep over took him, blanketing him in darkness.

***

When Rodger said he would handle everything, he really meant he would find a way to keep Leo busy enough not to get bored, but resting enough he could heal. His solution? Babysitting.

Over the two months he had been here, three kids had arrived all younger then Harley, the previously youngest kid at camp at eight, and Leo’s brother.

The first and oldest was Mitch. At five, he thought he was the coolest thing in the world. He was also a son of Ares, which made him hard to handle. He had long curly blond hair and sharp brown eyes that followed you as you passed by. He was the size of a small troll, and kind of looked like one too in Leo’s opinion. He screamed a lot, and broke things when he got mad.

The second and calmest child was a little Apollo girl named Brooke. She was four years old and was the only one in camp who could control Mitch. She loved to sing and do any kind of art, which put her in Leo’s good books. She hardly caused trouble, unless it was making some kind of “art”, that was either really dangerous or really messy. She had black pigtails and bright green eyes that sparkled in the sun. She smiled at everyone who passed her and only said nice things. She was a few inches shorter then Mitch, but Leo was pretty sure she scared him.

The last child was a baby about a year-old named Julie. Unlike the other two, who had found their way here by satyrs, she had been brought her by her father, Dionysus, personally, even though Zeus had forbidden it. Apparently, she had been left for death by her mother and Dionysus refused to just let his daughter die. She had only been here a month, but she had already captured everyone’s hearts. She had black curly hair and wide blue eyes that held so much hope and wonder it scared Leo a bit. Pollux, Julies only relative in camp, was petrified by the idea of caring for a baby, so she was happily cared for by everyone in camp. Now, she was Leo’s responsibility.

The young children had a play room in the big house where they spent most of their time. They were to young to do much training, so people took turns watching them in there. That’s where Leo was told he would spend at least three days.

“This is ridiculous,” Leo complained again, holding Julie a bit awkwardly, “I should be working!”

“It’s probably for the best” Piper sighed, “you could hurt yourself working so hard. And Julie and Brooke are sweethearts, you’ll have no trouble with them”

Leo wouldn’t know. He was the only one in camp who had spent zero time with the kids, having been locked up in his workshop for so long. But he did know it wasn’t Brooke or Julie he was worried about.

“What about Mitch?” he balanced Julie skillfully with one arm and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the rock child that was colouring with crayons so forcefully most were in broken pieces all around him.

“He’ll be fine” Piper said confidently, but her eyes showed Leo she didn’t believe that, “if he gives you trouble, there’s the time out corner”, she pointed to a chair in the left-hand corner of the room that had a sign on the wall beside it that said, _“I’ve been naughty, but I’m sorry”_ in bright yellow lettering with lots of little smiley and crying faces around it.

“rrrrriiiigggghhhht” Leo said, frowning, “okay.”

“Rest up. It might even be fun!” Piper gave him a kiss on the cheek, “I got to go, Jason promised to take me horseback riding. I’ll check in later okay?”

Leo’s heart sunk, he though Piper might stick around and hang out with him now that he wasn’t working. But no, he was being pushed aside again.

“Right” Leo mumbled again, “okay”, but Piper was already walking away.

Leo stood there for who knows how long, Julie sleeping in his arms like a tiny fallen angel, staring down the hall where Piper had disappeared. He felt so miserable he thought he might start crying when he felt a hand tug on his shirt. He looked down into the big green eyes of Brooke.

“You’re Leo right?”

Leo frowned, “yeah?”

Brooke’s face split into an excited grin. “Mitch! Mitch this is Leo!”

Mitch looked up from his colouring, “Leo? War ship Leo?”

“Yeah!”

“Cool!”

Before he new it, he was sitting on the couch, Julie still snoring away, with two hyperactive children, one on each side of him, asking a million questions at once.

“Is it true you can control fire?”

“Is your ship really going to have rocket launchers?”

“Can you really turn things to ash just by touching it?”

“Are you really going to be the one to destroy the world?”

“Can you fly like the flame on guy?”

“Okay children calm down or you’ll wake Julie” Leo cut in finally, head spinning with questions.

“Okay um yes I can control fire, rocket launchers is a good idea, I’ve never tried to turn things to ash but I doubt it, no I’m not going to destroy the world,” _I hope I won’t anyway_ , he thought, “and no I can’t fly. Can I ask questions now?”

Mitch and Brooke shared a look, “yeah” Brooke said, “we guess so”

“Right,” Leo sat up straighter, putting Julie in a better position, “how do you guys know so much about me?”

Brooke giggled and Mitch rolled his eyes. “You’re the great hero that’s building the ship that will save us all silly. Everyone talks about you” Brooke explained.

“Yeah, they say you’re the best mechanic they’ve ever had here at camp. Even better the Charlie!” Mitch shouted. Leo hushed him and rocked Julie, who had started to stir.

“It’s Charles Mitch, not Charlie, and please don’t yell” Leo pleaded. The children gave him hope, they saw him as important and a hero. This resting thing might not be so bad. It might be a little rocky, but not completely horrible. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?

**Author's Note:**

> kudo, comment, and please please PLEASE give me ideas of where to go with this


End file.
